1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to configuring messaging servers. More specifically, the present invention provides for a configuration tool that assists the user in registering and maintaining either existing or new domain names with a domain name registrar.
2. Background and Related Art
Electronic messaging systems (e.g., e-mail, messaging boards, web services, etc.) have become an increasingly popular way to communicate. Business users increasingly rely on electronic messages to share ideas, transmit documents, schedule meetings and perform a multitude of other everyday tasks. In order to facilitate these tasks, a myriad of hardware and software components interact and communicate via numerous protocols such as the well-defined Internet Protocol (IP), often used in conjunction with the Transport Communication Protocol (TCP).
In order for such electronic messages to pass between computers over the Internet, each computer needs to have a unique Internet address in order to appropriately route messages. Typically, each computer is assigned a unique IP address so that no two machines have the same IP address. To simplify Internet addressing, the Domain Name System (DNS) allows users to access Internet resources with the simpler alphanumeric naming system.
Domain Name System as defined by a myriad of RFCs (see e.g., RFCs 1034, 1035) is a hierarchal database, meaning the data is structured in a tree much like the directory structure of typical operating system file structures. The root domain, “.”, is at the top, and various sub-domains branch out from the root. On the Internet, for example, the first branches come out of the root are the top-level domains such as .com, which is a domain containing all commercial organizations, .edu, which contains all educational organizations, and the various country codes, like .au for Australia, .ca for Canada, and so on.
Under each of these top-level domains are more branches containing other domains, such as mycompany.com, under the .com domain, myschool.edu under the .edu domain, and so forth. Each of these domains may, in turn, have their own sub-domains, such as engineering.mycompany.com and sales.mycompany.com under the mycompany.com domain.
Each domain has its own name server, a server which contains host name information about the host and sub-domains within its domain. For example, mycompany.com domain may have a name server that stores address information about all of the host and sub-domains in the mycompany.com domain. Authority for a sub-domain, however, e.g., engineering.mycompany.com, can be passed to a name server that has authority for that sub-domain. When the name resolution request comes to the mycompany.com name server, it just passes the request off to the engineering.mycompany.com name server. In this way, DNS is truly distributed across the Internet, with each domain maintaining only the information that is pertinent to that domain.
Each name server stores information about its domain in the form of several different kinds of resource records, each of which stores a different kind of information about the domain and the host in the domain. For example, a Mail eXchange (MX) record stores information about where mail for the domain should be delivered. The “A” record, on the other hand, stores the host name and IP addresses of individual hosts in the domain. This is the record used to translate host names to IP addresses.
Typically, individuals and many small businesses use an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for email and Internet access. The ISP usually issues the domain name and assigns IP addresses. In order to save money and effort, typically the ISPs issue dynamic addresses using, for example, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Accordingly, many individuals and small businesses end up with dynamic IP addresses, which are managed by the ISP for updating DNS records.
Rather than using an ISP, more and more businesses are desiring to have more choices and control over their domain names. Additionally, many businesses prefer to run their own messaging servers in order to have increased functionality and control. Accordingly, many businesses nowadays configure their own messaging servers, assign static (or dynamic) IP addresses and update the DNS records much like an ISP provider would do. In order to configure such messaging systems, however, businesses need to first acquire the rights to the domain name. Typically, this is a manual process in that a user setting up the server must find an appropriate registrar to purchase the domain name, query the registrar for the availability of such, and pay a fee if such domain name is available. The user must then take this information, determine the IP address corresponding to their server, and update the server and the DNS records accordingly.
While this process may seem simple, most small business users find it difficult not only to determine the appropriate registrar to use for the domain they desire, but also find it difficult to configure the messaging server and the DNS records. Accordingly, there exists a need for an automated system that would assist a user in obtaining a new, or even using an existing, domain name during the configuration of a messaging server.
Further, small business users that use dynamic IP addresses utilizing, e.g., such protocols such as DHCP, need to be aware when IP addresses have been changed in order to appropriately maintain the DNS records. Although current mechanisms can be used to update DNS records, these systems are typically brute force type systems—i.e., they simply periodically obtain the IP address from the network card and logon to a service provided by the DNS provider to update the records. This periodic updating, however, creates a heavy burden on the DNS provider's server.
For example, if the provider has a large number of domain names to manage, continually signing on and updating DNS records can create a heavy burden on the limited processing resources of these systems. In addition, the user setting up the messaging server that has a dynamic IP may not know about such systems, or even where to find them. Even worse, the user setting up the messaging server may not know that they have a dynamic IP address, or that they need to do anything special because of that fact. Accordingly, there also exists a need for lightweight system that can automatically be configured during setup of a messaging server for maintaining dynamic IP addresses.